South African track, cross-country, and road-runner, Mathews Motshwarateu was born on 2 November 1958 in Soweto.
His talent for athletics already became apparent in his primary school years, which he spent at Isaacson Primary.
He had a peculiar way of running that made it look like he was about to fall over at any moment.
His teachers started calling him Motshwareng o tlawa, which is Sotho for ‘Watch him, he will fall’.
In 1978 Matthews won the South African 5 000m championship, setting a new South African record for the event. He retained his title the following year.
Later, sports writer Arrie Joubert would translate the nickname as ‘Loop-en-Val’, which is the Afrikaans for ‘Walk-and-Fall’.
Information sourced from: South African History Online.
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